FAMINE IN CHINA.

Evening Star, Issue 20320, 31 October 1929, Page 10

FAMINE IN CHINA.

lx China the spectre of famine still stalks through the land.. The magnitude of the trouble is almost beyond the power of words to describe. The greater part of the country is involved in the acute food shortage, but a recent account of travels there declares that the position in tho remote interior is the worst. The writer said .that, though the rich cities of the Yangtse were ever depressing experiences for tho foreign visitor, the famine-shrouded towns of China’s far north-west “leave one with-a gone feeling below the heart.” The position has been desperate for more than a year. Drought, long extended, is the main cause, but there are other contributing factors such as the chaotic conditions produced by civil war, earthquakes on a gigantic scale, and tho excesses of great roving lawless bands of demobilised soldiers. It was reported at the beginning of the year that twelve million persons were destitute, and that this number would probably be swelled to twenty millions. The suggestion was made that this might be an exaggerated estimate, based on unreliable information, but later reports showed that the statements were only too true, and the Chinese Minister at Washington declared that the famine was likely to affect sixty millions of people. That the position has in no ■ way improved is evident from the latest estimates of the China International Famine Relief Commission, which state that between twenty million and twenty-five million people are now’, or shortly will be, utterly destitute. The commission has spent large suras in relief work, but it is impossible to solve a problem so vast by this means alone. An effect of tho famine through the help that is being received from Western lands is to make the Chinese regard the foreign^

with a more tolerant eye, and to realise that his presence, in tlie country is not without its advantages. One practical and important work that the International Relief Commission is engaged upon is the digging of a great canal in Suiyuan Province. It will water a naturally fertile country, now in tho grip of ■ years of drought, and in tho hands of the industrious people its potentialities will be developed to a point that will provide the population with adequate foot! supplies. A double purpose is being served in the meantime, for the digging is being done by the famine victims, a surprising illustration of the powers of human endurance. The area to be watered is about 500 miles west of Peking, and the’ commission’s scheme is to build a canal from the Yellow River. Altogether a territory of some 400,000 acres will bo brought under cultivation as a result of tbe project, and it is estimated that this will he sufficient to grow crops that will feed tho ent|re-population of Suiyuan—some five million people. Evidently the' commission is working in a businesslike way. The expenditure on this project will be about’ £120,000, and the canal will remain the property of the commission till the money is paid back by way of revenues. Much greater sums than those now available will be required before the situation in China can be sensibly relieved, hut the worst of the appalling horrors are being mitigated by the commission. Those who subscribe to the famine relief funds will have the satisfaction of knowing that this body is working in a methodical and practical way. Relief of N distress is its immediate object, but one of its main principles is to hell) tha Chinese to help themselves.